October 2005 babies - what will happen in the next 6 months??

[Yokefleet]

I hope they are as good as the last 6!

Our evening routine is as follows:

5pm - tea followed by time with DH when he gets in from work.
6pm - bath time. 10 mins or so of kicking about in his bare bum followed by bath and teeth brushed.
6.30pm - curtains drawn, breastfeeding.
6.55pm - bed
7pm - sleep

There is plenty time built in to the routine to accommodate the very rare occasions that we are late and also room for a bedtime story once he is a bit older. He is always awake when he goes to bed and has learned to fall asleep by himself.

Welcome Cathie. My ds is nowhere near crawling yet and certainly not pulling himself up or trying to walk, although he did pull himself out of the bath last night obviously the bouancy provided by the water helped things along. I am making the most of the immobility because he is so nosey that I know for sure that he will be into everything!

YF - happy birthday. Gosh 29, I remember that quite a few moons ago now.....

Our bedtime routine is
4.30 food followed by a session in the baby walker
somewhere between 5.30 and 7pm we go to pick daddy up from the station
then as soon as we get home dh spends time playing with ds whilst I run the bath and get ds bedroom ready, dh bath's Thomas (max 10min)
Rub in some baby oil (on ds not dh ) dress him, give him a bottle and put ds into his cot whilst still awake and he is usually asleep within minutes. (after the bath we stay upstairs, getting ds ready for bed in our room, curtains drawn, with a Norah Jones playing quietly in the background. we found that this helped ds to settle for bed, we made mistakes earlier on by bathing him then coming downstairs and giving him his bottle but this just seemed to excite him again (too much going on I suspect)
Sorry will stop waffling now!!
Cathie Welcome and I'm with the others, enjoy it whilst it lasts! My ds started standing and crawling everywhere last week and it is really hard to keep up with him!

hello lovlies

thanks for your night rituals. At the mo we do this:
5pm supper
6pm bath
6.20 bottle
6.30 bed

what happens is she's really chilled so I put her into the cot then I leave the room. She then gets stroppy but calms herself intermittently. If she is still upset in 10 mins I go back in and settle her with more milk. She then happily goes into the cot rolls over and sleeps. It would be nice to have the happy roll over first that's all. In the day she settles herself to sleep for naps and it takes her 10 mins tops - why do you think bedtime is different for her? mm xx

Ours is

18.00 bath
18.20 play
19.00 bottle
19.10 play when DH gets home
19.30 bed

I think I will probably start doing what you do YFleet, as DD sometimes swquaks a bit before she can settle. So DH is probably exiciting her too much.

BTW I am going to visit my folks in Swansea soon, fancy meeting up?

CYE - my DD has just started the commando crawling, dragging herself around too. It is so funny to watch. She also likes to shuffle whilst sitting on her bum when there is music on, it is admazing how far she manages to travel like that.

Still no sign of teeth yet though. We have her 8 -12 mth check up this week. For some reason I am really exicited about it.

mozarellamamma - how is the move going?

TC Let me know when you are coming and I'll let you know. I enjoyed Thomas's 8m check as it meant I could show him off to someone other then family!!
My sis and niece moved down her bout 6 weeks ago and we are still trying to get her settled into her new house, her ex has got my niece for the week so we are madly trying to get stuff done there like curtains etc whilst her 2.9yr old isn't there (not that I am doing that much really as Thomas is into absolutly everything at the minute
MM how does your lo sleep when she does go down? My ds wouldn't go down well and was waking several times through the night taking about 16oz in total in the night, which was why our HV suggested controlled crying. Is that relevant or have I gone off on one here??

Our routine is as follows...
6.30 bath
6.50 breastfeed
7.15 bed
11.00 bottle feed - although ds is in the process of dropping this
Sometimes he is too tired to feed after bath, in which case I wake him up for a feed at about 7.30 once the edge has been taken off his tiredness - makes for a nice dream feed

Evie's third tooth came through yesterday and lo and behold she slept through all last night!!Up ar 6:00, had a feed and is now asleep with dh on the bed, gives me time to get ready for work!

Picked up my 2nd set of pixie fotos yesterday, they're really cool.

Got a meeting at work to discuss my objectives and 'my role going forwards' gulp!

Elf how exciting more teeth. I can't wait til we have some too.
Yokefleet Once stells is off she sleeps through most nights. So I guess we could do cc to get her off tho I'm not sure I've got the tenacity for it to be honest. She just goes from being very relaxed after her feed to sitting up in her cot and getting very agitated. LAst night DH put her to bed she did her usual strop so he just picked her up and gave her a cuddle and in a minute she was alseep. The max time it takes is 20 mins all in all - so am I being unrealistic? Anyway how do you do cc?
Teacakes We are going to have a look around colchester in our hols coming up to see how we feel about it as our new home. Cross fingers. Now Swanswea way must be wonderful...

Our 8 month check tomorrow too. Have lovely days all - LOL MM

Joey's poorly

He woke up out of sorts from his nap yesterday afternoon, spent all afternoon and evening crying and being really clingy, checked his temp and it was 38.3!Gave calpol and nurofen, rang NHS Direct (who were about as much use as a chocolate tea pot!) and he settled for the night, albeit in our bed. Woke up this moring, and his temp was up to 38.5, re-dosed him and took him down to the GP who did a thorough examination and couldn't find any obvious cause either! I've got to try and get a urine specimen out of him, and just "see how he goes". I hate it when he's ill. Even though i'm a nurse, and very competent at work, i feel so helpless

Have had to cancel mine and DP's anniversary trip away too.

NM - it's horrible, isn't it. At least the doc has given him the ok. Johnny had something similar a few weeks back and he was just a pathetic wee lamb who wanted to cuddle all the time. Being a softy mummy, that's what we did and he was better within 3 days. Where were you meant to be going for your trip?
Johnny seems to be back on track after our day out and visitors on Monday. He napped for 90 mins yesterday morning and this morning and also 2hrs 15 yesterday afternoon and 7 - 7 last night. fingers crossed that it continues! He now has three teeth with the fourth about to pop through any day. He is definitely beginning to recognise some of the baby signs and with my vivid imagination, I can convince nyself that he is doing some of them. well, when he's feeding he opens and closes his hand which is the milk sign, but it think it's just coincidence tbh.
Sorry about typos. I'm feeding with the other hand. I was impressed with myself this morning. I managed to put in my contact lenses with one hand whilst holding Johnny in the other!!

NM sorry to hear your DS isn't well. Hope he's better soon - and good luck with getting a sample...how on earth..?!

I see a few of you have 8 month check ups - is this with the GP? I am unaware of such a thing. DD was eight months yesterday and it would be nice to have someone look her over and tell me she's ok and doing more or less what she should be doing. but my doc bit of a dragon lady - not the sort of gp you go to see if you don't have to!

I am very envious of all your babies who are sleeping through the night. DD wakes around ten, then two then four and then five thirty - six at which point she's up for the day unless I take her into our bed, in which case she'll snooze until 0730. I always bf her when she wakes and she usually takes quite a bit - do you think i'm doing the right thing?
she has solids three times a day and isn't a bad eater but doesn't always eat loads... Also meals take a good half hour or more. Is this usual?

Our bedtime routine
1700 meal and then play until
1800 bath then massage, nappy, dress for bed, grobag
1830-ish into bedroom. lullabye cd on, bf, and sleep by
1900
sometimes i leave her awake sometimes i hold her until she's almost fast asleep. leaving her awake less sucessful since she can roll over as she ends up on all fours squawking!

cye - Johnny doesn't sleep through the night by chance!! He had me wrapped round his little finger and when we reached the stage that he would cry if he wasn't feeding in bed with me at night then I decided that something had to be done about it. We did controlled crying 5 weeks ago and haven't looked back. It took 4 difficult nights to get over the worst of it. We are now in a structured routine which has made our lives so much easier. I have broken the routine a couple of times and I can say that it isn't worth it (see my post of 27th June!) and I will now only break routine for a very special occasion! I don't know your circumstances and if you are able (or want) to work like this, but if you are, I would thoroughly recommend it. Johnny has been transformed into such a happy little boy. Controlled crying might not be your cup of tea of course. I am the biggest softie Mummy around and I found it very difficult to deal with the crying, but having seen the results, I will do the same with any subsequent babies and I will do it sooner!!

just been to check DD and she's asleep on her front. eeek. resisted urge to turn her over as this usually wakes her... but is it safe for her to be on her front?

SIDS guidelines

If baby can roll over and back again, then better to leave her as per the question about half way down.

HTH

cye lovely it's fine for your babe to sleep on her front. basically once they can flip over they can also right themselves too. we felt the same when ours started to sleep on her front at 4 months and spent ages flipping her back etc. All it did was knacker us and confuse her. They're just like us and like to pick their fave positions. My babe always sleeps with her bottom in the air (when you think about it it's quite foetal).
On the sleeping through thing...you're breasfeeding which is amazing but is naturally more demand lead. I also started on a 'routine' based on the baby whisperer only days after she arrived and I think that's why it seems easier now for us - she's been indoctrinated poor luv.

If you're interested in a more routine based approach but not keen on controlled crying buy the babe whisperer book (the beige one not the blue one) as it's great at helping to help you create a schedule without 'breaking the trust' which is often a criticism levelled at cc. It also helps you to understand the different cries of your baby and how to decipher them. Kids of all ages need boundaries and routine as it helps to make them feel safe - know where they are in the world - so having a rhythm can help with that.
The only thing about a routine is that it means we as mums and dads have less flexibility as we have to commit to doing things at around about the same time daily. One of my friends is a very cool hippy type and takes her babe of 8 months to festivals and the theatre and even the cinema at night - my girl would go ballistic if she wasn't in her own bed at 6.30pm. But you just choose your dish I guess...
Sounds like you're a heavenly mum by the way and your babe will feel all your loveliness and that m'luv is all that really counts deep down MMx

Thanks for replies. i will leave her on front.
MM, Will take a look at book. am torn between trying to get her to sleep through the night and trying to ride it out. You're right, she does like routine and we stick to same naptimes through day and have a bedtime routine which doesn't vary and seems to work. It's just the sleeping through thing - she does seem hungry when she wakes up. i have tried settling her without feeding and she just wakes up twenty mins later looking for milk... and from what i've read in various places there are plenty of experts (well, yes, 'experts') who say some babies just don't sleep through and won't until they're ready. i'm still on mat leave so not the end of the world if i am woken in night - as long as it doesn't get out of hand! i will have to rethink when the return to work approaches...

Hi Cye

Sorry you're having such problems getting your little one to sleep through the night. I've been having trouble getting Alice to sleep through, I'm still breastfeeding too and I think she is often hungry when she wakes at night. It has improved in the last month as she's been eating more during the day. Alice now goes down at 7pm, then will sometimes wake at 4 or 5, if I feed her then she will usually go back until 7 or 8. Otherwise if she wakes after 5.30 that's her up for the day. So I actually prefer to be woken at 4 and at least have a chance of getting back to sleep after her feed. And at that time in the morning I think ...well, it is 10 hours since her last feed, she probably is hungry.

With dd1 I was much less forgiving and did controlled crying, but this time I feel Alice is still so little and am aware how quickly she will grow up, I don't mind treating her like a baby for a bit longer. Having said that, I'm going back to work in 5 weeks so might change my mind then.

cye - my dd was sleeping through very early, but when I went back to work, she started waking a lot at night. It was difficult and I was knackered. DH couldn't really help as I am still breastfeeding so as she was waking up hungry, I had to be there to feed her. We rode it out, took a while and I think it took longer as she had a couple of bouts of illness inbetween then and now. But aside from when she's poorly / teething, she is sleeping through again.

Have you thought about co-sleeping for a bit? I was never too keen but found that sometimes I could bring dd into our bed and as long as she could smell me, she'd sleep. Especially when she was waking at 4:00. I'd sleep next to her and she was quite happy til morning. I was worried due to loads of people telling me we'd never get her back in her own bed, but it has been fine, she's now back in her room all night (fingers crossed sods law wont happen!) Worth a shot?

RE turning them over - I still turn Evie back onto her back. Cant help it. If I dont and she wakes up for a min in the middle of the night, if she's on her front she cries, puts herself on all fours and cries with confusion!

oh and Evie's 4th tooth is going to burst through in the next day or so!!

MM We started the cc as ds was waking several times through the night taking about 16oz of milk and he would usually be asleep when we put him to bed, HV said at the 8m check that ds son was doing well so we could try cc and start reducing the amount of milk available through the night or dilute with more water and try weaning ds off his night feeds or go the hole hog and not give him milk at all through the night and allow ds to cry back to sleep but whatever we did we must stick to "a plan" not give in. We decided to cut the milk through the night completely and make sure that Thomas was awake when we put him down (must admit I didn't think it would work like it did) First night Thomas was put into his cot and he screamed the house down for about 2 minutes then rolled over and went to sleep waking twice through the night crying, first time I let him cry for 5mins then went in and sshhh'd him and patted his back, he calmed down and I left, cried again for 2mins I did the same again and left and he went to sleep. 2nd time he really wanted his milk and was much hearder to settle but looking back on it, it was still only 25mins to settle him back off to sleep. By night 4 Thomas wasn't waking through the night although was still up before 5.30am which we didn't mind as at least we were getting some solid blocks of sleep Now apart from teething troubles ds is sleeping through well, even have had to wake him up at 6.30am a few mornings this week so that we could take dh to the train station. (we have put a black out blind up in his room this week so I don't yet know if that is what is making the difference) will see what happens tomorrow morning when we don't have to get up!

nm Hows Joey this morning? Sad news that you have had to cancel your trip
cye Our 8m check was with the HV, we were sent a card telling us that she was coming for a home visit. Re: meals, ds's meals can take anything from 10min to 45mins depending on what else is going on in the room at the time, when my niece is here my ds just laughs at her and usually eats his food when its cold! Re: rolling over ds did this from 5m, we tried turning him back over but sure enough each time we went back in he was back on his front, so we leave him now.
mb it's amazes me what we can do with baby in one hand, haven't attempted putting my lenses in though!
elf was it "sods law" last night?? did your meeting go ok?

Well, Joey's temp was still up to 38.3 this morning (despite having had nurofen only 2 hours before...!), but he's a bit better in himself, so hopefully he's over the worst of whatever it was.

Re the urine sample - we sat him in the kitchen, nappy off, for nearly an hour with no joy, then i had the 'bright' idea to sit him in a washed-out plastic storage tub, which worked beautifully

Thnaks for your concern, NM x

Sorry, i meant 'thanks'! And re the cancelled trip, we were going to Norfolk to sort out the finer details of our wedding in December (giving the paperwork to the registry office, booking florists etc), as well as going out for our anniversary. Still, Joey's more important - we'll just reschedule for another time

DD went for her 8mth well actually 9mth checkup today, rather disappointing as I expected lots of questions from the doc. But it was all over in a few mins, main thing is DD got top marks.

NM - how is Joey today, hope he is getting better.

CYE - I know what you mean about babies sleeping on their fronts. The first night DD did it I did not sleep and kept on going in to listen to her breathing. Now when I go in to fetch her I have no idea where she'll be in the cot or in what position :>

Questions for all you ladies whose babes are now crawling: are anything or you using a playpen so that you can get some housework done?

YF - yes, Evie was awake and slept in our bed for an hour or so last night!
nm - glad to hear Joey's on the mend
teacakes - we just let Evie crawl around when we're tidying up, but I tend to do most when she's in bed, as I'm working during the day.